Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda has said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) should recover dues for the “non-official airlifts” of the IAF during his prime ministership from the Janata Dal (United) and then Minister of Civil Aviation C.M. Ibrahim, who continued to be a minister in the I.K. Gujral cabinet too, for utilising the aircraft.
“However no recovery is sought from him (Mr. Ibrahim) and he is not even made a party,” Mr. Gowda told journalists here on Thursday on the controversy relating to dues sought to be recovered from him by the IAF. The case is pending in the Delhi High Court. However he hastened to add that the matter was sub judice and he would abide by the court’s judgment.
He said the government had wrongly presumed that JD (S) was the successor in the interest of undivided Janata Dal and had shared the assets and liabilities of undivided JD. He claimed that the JD (U) headed by Sharad Yadav succeeded to all the assets and liabilities of the undivided JD.
The suit was filed against Mr. Gowda, JD (Secular) and JD (United) in October 2000 for recovery of principal amount of Rs.54,61,497 jointly and severally from all of them, out of which Rs.28,30,333 was due on account of trip requisitioned by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) but availed by Mr. Ibrahim.
Mr. Gowda pointed out that the suit itself claimed that as per Office Memorandum dated 6.1.1981 if the request for use of IAF aircraft was made by the PMO certifying that the trip was not official, airlift bills would be raised and “forwarded to the PMO for realisation from the concerned political party.”
He and JD (S) filed their replies in the suit and he had even produced the copies of the letters dated 19.8.1997 by the Directorate of Accounts, Air Headquarters, and letter dated 31.7.1997 by the PMO addressed to the Cashier, Janata Dal, 7 Jantar Mantar Road, New Delhi, for payment by JD for airlift provided to former Prime Minister V.P. Singh and him (Mr. Gowda). They also replied that the amounts were due from JD as per the government’s records itself and it was government’s own instruction that amounts were to be paid by the political party.
Mr. Gowda said he was “hurt very badly” on the issue and added that in his several decades of public life he never kept dues to any one. Not only that he had not been accepting pension he was not utilising free train travel coupons, bus passes etc. though he was eligible to all of them as a former MLA/Chief Minister of Karnataka and ex-Prime Minister. “I am a ordinary person and I want to lead a simple life,” he added.
Eom/J Balaji/2000 hrs.
